Midwest Saga, Day 1

For those who care, here's a record of day 1. It's mostly to keep me awake and encouraged at the progress we make...

Last walk before we leave. Spying on the ducks in the pond. Kids are freaking out, yelling "quack, quack, quack!"

8:00 pm

• In the car. On the road. On time. Feeling good. We are amazing.

8:10 pm

• Pull in at a local liquor store because you can hear our tire (which was recently fixed at Jiffy Lube) wobble.
• Steve unpacks the entire trunk that he spent all day piecing together to get to where he stored the wrench in order to tighten the lug nuts.
• Steve pats himself on the back for being able to pinpoint the problem and fix it in record time. I am starstruck, of course. In love all over again.

8:20 pm

• On the road again.
• Kids are passed out in the back seat.
• Whew.

9:00 pm

• Steve and I savor our sandwich to make the time go by more quickly. One bite at a time.

10:00 pm

• Finish sandwiches. Killed an hour. Only 9 more to go.

11:00pm

• Threw an M&M at Steve for being weird. Lose it in the car. Argument ensues because he's just spent the last three days taking apart the car to clean it.
• Silence.

12 am

• Bathroom /stretch legs break.
• Kids wake up, give us a few sleepy smiles and fall back to sleep. Attempt to take picture of their cuteness, but it turns out our kids don't glow in the dark.

2:30 am

• Kids are suddenly wide awake demanding food and entertainment.

3:15 am

• Attempt #1 to get the kids settled again: calm movie, blankets, sippy cups
• (Josiah wriggles out of his carseat arm straps, Lilly loses her cup on the floor and kicks the I Pad around. Video goes off. I am mad.)

3:41 am

• Attempt #2: sleepy time music, darkness, ignore their irritated cries. (Though initially unsuccessful, we'll stick this out and see how it goes).
• Icy hot patches for me; Excedrin for Steve
• We're jealous that the twins can sleep but we can't though trying to explain this to them is proving counter productive.

4:00 am

• Kids still crying. Starting to dread the day (especially nap times).
• Saw a car flipped over in the middle of the road; police cars on scene. Silent prayers for any involved.

4:30 am

• Why are there people on the road? Aren't farmers the only ones allowed to be up this early??? This is definitely too early to be conscious. Silent grumbling.

5:00 am

• Quick refill on gas and a couple mini fits later, the kids are asleep. They're soooo tired.
• 2.5 hours to go until we reach Indianapolis, IN.

6:00 am

• Being supportive, I stayed awake the entire trip except for the second to half hour which is possibly the worst part of any trip. Just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.
• Steve's 5 Hour Energy drinks seem to have helped pull him through. Still pluggin' along.

6:45 am

• 40 minutes away......everyone starts to get antsy and excited.
• Steve called the hotel to ask if we could still do early check in. They said the room was available whenever we showed up. So awesome.

(sorry these are grainy, it was still pretty dark outside)

Silly girl.

Catching a few more zzzzzzz's

7:45 am

• We're here! Checking into the hotel, eating breakfast and putting the kids down immediately for a nap (and then passing out ourselves) are our first priorities.
• Excited to say that things actually happened in this order. Glad to be here :)